Palmerston North City Library: It’s too hot outside so stay inside and read

The Mobile Library will be at the Festival of Cultures World Food, Craft and Music Fair in Te Marae o Hine on February 24. Photo / Palmerston North City Council

Today’s health and safety notice: it’s too hot outside – better to stay inside with a good book. Read responsibly. Find a shady spot, prepare your preferred libation, and take it easy.

The library is joining the Lunar New Year party. There’ll be a display on the first floor of Central Library, from February 1-12. This display is being put on by Global Parents Support, and from February 15-29 the same group will create a display of traditional costumes from around the world. The Mobile Library will be celebrating diversity at the Festival of Cultures World Food, Craft and Music Fair in Te Marae o Hine on Saturday, February 24, and will have some books from the community languages collection onboard.

Ever since Marconi said “Can you hear me?” on the first radio, people have been looking for more ways to have a disembodied voice talk to them. Have you joined the growing group of avid audiobook listeners? Between 2016 and 2023, e-book usage at City Library grew by 300 per cent, but in the same period, e-audiobook usage increased by more than 1000 per cent.

More and more people are discovering audiobooks are a convenient way to read that book they’ve been trying to set some time aside for. Physical audiobooks (on CD) are still around, but it’s the electronic version that’s experiencing a big jump in popularity.

Since most people have a phone nearby, it means you carry your library’s collection with you whenever and wherever you need it. You can play a book through your car stereo on a road trip, or put in some earbuds while you’re painting a fence. And if you enjoy the medium more than the message, you can look up books by your favourite narrator instead of by author. Give your eyes a rest and wrap your lug holes around a good book today.

Spotted on social media: someone is doing a read your height in books challenge this year – what a great idea. And the awesome thing is, the activity is the reward.

Now, bear with us, this next thing might not sound so exciting. From now on, most library email notices will be sent from noreply@kotui.org.nz or from no-reply@kotui.org.nz, rather than an address ending in pncc.govt.nz. So if you think you might have missed a notice about a book on hold, or a due date, check your spam folder. You don’t want to miss out on those all-important library notices, do you?

Speaking of emails, some of us remember when the first public computer arrived in the library. This eventually turned into a computer area, one in each library location, and they’re now an integral part of the service. Printing, scanning, help with digital devices - it all happens here.

We also have wifi pumping out of the buildings during opening hours, so if you’re having one of those days when you want to check your email but don’t have the energy to talk to a human, you can still grab some invisible data for free.

We are working hard to get the library app back in action. Sadly, there’s no news on that front. You can still do your renewals and holds at citylibrary.pncc.govt.nz, or phone 06 351 4100.

Tech4Tots begins on February 27 – it’s a programme for 4 and 5-year-olds, having tonnes of fun with techie stuff like games, apps, robots and coding. Tech4Tots will run on the last Tuesday of the month from 9.30-10.10am. Spaces are limited, so registration is required – contact pncl@pncc.govt.nz.

Tune in again next month when we’ll be talking about Heritage Month, this year’s version of the Versions writing programme, and other tasty tidbits. Till then, see you in the book stacks.